The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-10-19
THAT TYPICAL SOUTHERN HOME"


'The Bellemeade mansion" on the farm of
that name, near Nashville, where the Presi-
dent and Mrs. Cleveland passed last Sunday,
is spoken of in the dispatches as "a typical
Southern home of the highest class" Lest
the Northern mind might fail to comprehend
this it was added: "It is a substantial two
story brick structure of ample proportions,
built without much fligree or ornamentation,
having a wide portico along its front, sup
ported by four lofty wooden pillars. Out
houses and domestic offices flank it, and viii
lage for the negro attendants and servants OF
the place lies little way back" The official
chronicler of the presidential tour is expected
to make the most out of his subject, and to
see everything through -colored medium
But why try to invest with esthetic interest
or surround with a picturesque glamour a
plain two-story brick house, even if it had "a
wide portico along its 'front.' supported by
four lofty wooden pillarsg" Two-story brick
houses are not so uncommon in the North
that this graphic pen-picture of architectural
magniicence could be expected to ex-
cite much enthusiasm, or be read with
awe. Its towering front could not be
very long if the portico which measured it was
supported by only flour lofty wooden pillars,
and we suspect that these were only of the
dizzy height of story. The pict-
ure of the lighthouses and domestic
offices" that fanked it will readily be
recognized by any one who has ever seen
typical Southern country residence, where
the odors of the pig-stye and the barn yard
are apt to be unpleasantly near the parlor and
dining-room windows, and the out-houses are
much too near in summer and too far in win
ter. AT Bellemeade, the windows Of the
Presidents room, opening on veranda
which formed the second story of the portico,
supported by flour lofty wooden pillars"
herd of deer roamed at pleasure, with poul-
try-yard in the near foreground. Now,
broilers are good, fresh eggs delightful and
poultry, under all circumstances, entirely
worthy of respect; but in advanced commu-
mites il is not considered good taste to make
the hennery central feature of the front
yard landscape. The alert ana faithful cor
respondent who described the interior of
the Bellemeade mansion located the apart
ments occupied by the President and Mrs.
Cleveland, and by Colonel Lamont, with
the dividing halls, ETC., quite definitely,
but they failed to locate the bath room
doubtless, for the very good reason that there
was none. The fact is, domestic architecture
has made very little progress in the South.
It had made almost none at all before the war
and not much since. 'The typical Southern
mansion" would be a very commonplace
affair in the North, while what are called
modern conveniences" are practically un-
known there. There may be unlimited hos
pitality, abundance of good living and all the
cardinal virtues in a two-story brick house,
with aportico supported by four lofty wooden
Offices, but where is the use of painting such
a picture as something for the world to Won
der att It is quite likely the hospitable pro-
prietor Of Bellemeade placed something on
the side board, the effect of which was to
make the house, with its four-wooden pillared
portico, appear to the President and his
correspondent gorgeous pal
ace with Handicapped towers, and the hen
yard like slice of the garden of paradise, but
they ought to have known better than to
that sort of stuff over the country.
1t is not good cold